Cubs, an all encompassing trip

Results tagged ‘ Cubs Brewers Series Preview ’

This series worries me, only because the Brewers have been bad all year, and they are bound to start playing some better baseball. It’s a new test for the Cubs as good teams are immune, usually, from playing down to their competition. Based on how these teams have played so far you would think that the Cubs would have an easy go of it, that’s why they play the games of course. The Cubs are coming into this series winners in six of their last ten, and just two games behind the Cardinals for first place in the Central. Conversely the Brewers have won just three times in their last ten, and are already ten games back of first in the Central.

Brewers: Apparently Adam Lind is making the most of his regular playing time in Milwaukee. The slugging first baseman is hitting .444 (12-for-27) in his last seven games with two doubles, three dingers, and six RBI’s.

Cubs: It really doesn’t seem like Dexter Fowler has struggled at all this year because of his ability to get on base, but now he is red hot. Fowler is hitting .450 (9-for-20) over his last five games with one double, two RBI’s, and a walk.

Who is Not:

Brewers: The Brewers have been bitten by the injury bug so they are having to rely on players they normally wouldn’t, one of those guys is Logan Schafer. Schafer is really struggling as he is hitting .200 (4-for-20) over his last seven games with one walk, and six strikeouts.

Cubs: It seems as though teams have found Jorge Soler‘s swing and miss, it’s the weather. Of course I’m not blaming the weather on his struggles, but he is cold, literally. Over his last six games, Soler is hitting .091 (2-for-22) with twelve strikeouts.

No rain outs this weekend! It seems as though the Brewers have found a groove since playing the Cubs as they are playing better of late. Yesterday’s Cubs game was very encouraging as far as the offense goes, it was some of the best contact of the year, and they will see the best weather they have all year in Milwaukee, thanks roof. I really think the bats want to take off, Anthony Rizzo hit the ball hard in almost every at bat yesterday, Soriano hit his first home run yesterday, and Castro walked twice yesterday, all good things. Always a fun series in Milwaukee as a lot of Cubs fans usually make the trip up there, and it is rather important that the Cubs get off to a good start to this trip in Milwaukee or this ten game trip might not turn out so great.

Last Series:

The Cubs split a rain shortened two game set with the Rangers at home.

The Brewers swept a three game series against the Giants in Milwaukee.

Who’s Hot / Who’s Not:

The Cubs hitting seems to be picking things up, sure it’s really only one game, but at this point I’ll take it. The Cubs could be considered to be falling on some back luck recently, especially in the Giants series. The Cubs went 3-6 on the rain shortened home stand and the record could have been the exact opposite if they could just close games out. Welington Castillo has been red-hot really all season long, as he is hitting .425 on the season with three double, a home run, and four RBI’s. Starlin Castro is also gaining traction at the plate as he has his average up to .311 with four doubles, a triple, two home runs, and six RBI’s. Anthony Rizzo has been struggling a bit, but found some bad luck recently with line outs, I think he has a big series in Milwaukee, he looks better at the plate of late. The Cubs starting pitching has been outstanding this year, the cumulative ERA is 3.15 which is sixth best in the Majors, conversely the bullpen ERA is 5.73 which is 29th in the Majors. Obviously, if that number is just a little bit lower the Cubs could have four or five more wins.

The Brewers are coming off an impressive showing against the defending champion Giants sweeping the three game set and outscoring them 21 to 13. Carlos Gomez is scorching hot for the Brewers, over the last five games he’s hitting .556 (10-for18) with a triple, home run, and two RBI’s. Jonathan Lucroy seems to have snapped out of his early season slump as well, he is hitting .350 (7-for-20) in his last five games with two home runs and five RBI’s. Ryan Braun has gone ice-cold, some are blaming a neck injury that he is coming off of because you just don’t see these types of numbers from him, he’s hitting .091 (2-for-22) in his last six games, those two hits were home runs. Milwaukee’s pitching is what is holding them back right now, and it’s been a mix of starters not getting the job done, and the bullpen being very unpredictable. Their team ERA is 4.75 which is good for 26th in the Majors.

Bold Prediction:

I like the way the Cubs swung the bats against the Rangers yesterday and I think the warm weather (inside) in Milwaukee will continue that trend. I think the Cubs win two out of three this weekend, and might have an opportunity to sweep on Sunday.

Finally some home baseball! There really is nothing like the home opener at Wrigley, I love watching baseball there, on TV or in person. The Cubs welcome the banged up Brewers to town for a three game set. The Cubs need to find some hits and more importantly runs, both have been at a premium so far this season. The Brewers are struggling as well, I mentioned they were banged up, they are also losing, five straight in fact.

Last Series:

Cubs suffered a three game sweep at the hands of the Braves in Atlanta

Who’s Hot / Who’s Not:

The Cubs are coming off a tough series in Atlanta where they should have had at least one win, maybe two. Unfortunately the bats remained cold as they rank 29th in the Majors in average, on base percentage, runs, and slugging percentage. The Cubs best hitter right now is Welington Castillo, “beef” is hitting .357 (5-for-14) on the season. There are a number of Cubs hitters struggling as I mentioned, Valbuena, DeJesus, and Soriano would have to be at the top of that list. The pitching on the other hand has been outstanding, sans Carlos Marmol of course. The Cubs have a team ERA of 3.75 which is 14th best in the Majors, and that includes the last two games where they gave up a total of eleven run.

To say the Brewers are banged up might be an understatement. Ryan Braun has missed the last three games, and might miss the series opener today, Jean Segura is hobbled, and Aramis Ramirez is out of the lineup indefinitely, and Corey Hart hasn’t played a game yet. The Brewers have been scoring runs, and hitting as of late, but three of the guys that I mentioned as being hurt are their top hitters so far. Rickie Weeks is having a bounce back year so far as he is hitting .333 on the season so far. Norichika Aoki has been on fire as well as he is hitting .370 (10-for-27) in the early going. Pitching is an issue for the Brewers as they have a team ERA of 5.68 “good” for 28th in the Majors.

Bold Prediction:

I think the Cubs get the bats going this week at Wrigley, finally feeling comfortable being at home. The Cubs take two out of three from the Brewers this week, winning the first and third game of the series.

The Cubs look to continue their success on the longest home stand of the year as they welcome the Brewers to town for a four game set. Revenge might also be on the Cubs mind as they were swept by the Brewers last week in Milwaukee. At this point both teams are playing out the string, but it’s an important time for many young guys as they are trying to impress the front office heading into next year. One guy that is doing that lately is Brett Jackson, after struggling immediately after his call up Jackson has made the necessary adjustments to find results. It seems to be working as Jackson was 4-for-8 against the Rockies with two home runs and three RBI’s. He will look to continue that success against a Brewers team that is finally finding some traction, just a little too late to salvage this season. The Brewers are 7-3 in their last ten games and are playing much better baseball of late. They are led by reigning MVP Ryan Braun who is putting up similar numbers this year, if the Cubs want to get that revenge against the Brewers they are going to have to shut Braun down. Surprisingly the Cubs have limited Braun this year, sure he is hitting .304 against the Cubs this year but he only has one home run, and four RBI’s.

It’s a battle for fourth place! Sorry, I was just trying to liven things up a little bit. The Brewers have had the Cubs number this year as they have won seven out of the first ten games between the two clubs. The Cubs pitching staff has taken it on the chin during the season series as the Brewers are averaging 4.6 runs per game over the first ten games. Funny thing is the Cubs are actually averaging 4.8 runs per game this year against the Brewers, the numbers get a little out of whack when you win 8-0 and 10-0, which is what the Cubs have done against the Brewers, all or nothing I guess. Coming into this series both teams are struggling, only going 3-7 in their last ten games. Not sure that matters much when you take into account the home and road record of the two teams. The Brewers have been really good at home going 35-28, conversely the Cubs have been dreadful on the road to the tune of 17-45, yikes. The Cubs are going to have to score with the Brewers if they want any chance to take this series as the Brewers are 5th in the National League in runs scored.

August 20, 2012 – August 22, 2012; Miller Park, Milwaukee, WI

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After a promising series against the Padres at home the Cubs came crashing back down to Earth in San Francisco as they lost four straight against the Giants. The only positive thing I can say about it is that the Cubs are in every game, I don’t know about you but I’m getting tired of hearing that too. Eventually a team has to learn how to win, and it might not even be that, it might be that the Cubs just don’t have the types of players needed to win close games, it’s probably a little bit of both.

With Dale Sveum’s threat to bench Castro hanging over the team they begin a three game set in Milwaukee tonight. The Cubs have lost 11 straight on the road and show no sign of ending that streak anytime soon. The Brewers are coming off a series loss to the Pirates but have been playing better ball of late as illustrated by their four game sweep of the Dodgers in Los Angeles. For the Cubs to be successful someone is going to have to come through late in a close game, or shut the door in a close game, because it will be a close game, almost all of them are. Full preview/breakdown after the jump.

The Cubs begin divisional play tonight as they welcome they neighbors to the North the Milwaukee Brewers. This will be Ryan Braun’s first visit to Wrigley Field after news of his positive steroid test became public, I’m sure the Wrigley faithful will remind him of that. It also marks the return of Aramis Ramirez, not sure what to expect from him, there will either be a lot of Roger Dorn attempts in the field and ground balls that aren’t run out, or we will see Aramis circa 2003 as he will be motivated to prove to the Cubs that he isn’t done yet.

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